Verb Forms and Passive Transformations

 

 

There are very few inflectional endings we add to regular verbs in English--only three.  The infinitive form is called the "zero" form because that is the form without inflectional endings, and we use that form with most auxiliary verbs ("to gargle" is an infinitive).  The three inflections are those used to make

 

1)  the 3rd person singular present:  ‑s (she gargles)

2)  the past: ‑ed (she gargled)

3)  the present participle:  ‑ing (she is gargling)

 

Most verbs make the past participle (he has gargled) the same way they make the past (with -ed) but a group of irregular verbs makes it differently, often with -en  (as in  drove/driven, bit/bitten, went/gone).

 

 A participle is a verb form that can be the acting verb of a sentence only when it has an auxiliary verb in front of it (note the has in front of has gargled).   When it doesn't have such an auxiliary in front of it, it is functioning as a nominal or an adjectival:  Gargling is fun.  Gargling children are silly.  

 

A participle HAS NO TENSE until it gets an auxiliary in front of it; it's the auxiliary that decides the tense: ABy tomorrow, I will have gargled@ (future); AToday, I have gargled@ (present); AYesterday I had gargled@ (past); ATomorrow, I will be gargling;@ Atoday I am gargling@; Ayesterday, I was gargling.@ 

 

When the participle is not accompanied by an auxiliary, it's not the functioning verb of the sentence.  (Without an auxiliary, it has nothing to do with the tense.)  Exs: AGargling, I will walk down the street tomorrow;@ Agargling, I walk down the street today;@ Agargling, I walked down the street yesterday.@

 

When present participles are used as part of the verb, they combine with "to be": Aam going,@ Awas gargling.@  When past participles are used as part of the verb, they combine with "to have":  Ahave gone,@ Ahad gargled.@ 

 

When past participles are combined with "to be," a passive transformation has occurred (Only  transitive verbs--those found in SVO constructions--can undergo a passive transformation.)   A passive transformation means that what was the object has been put in the subject slot.  Now the SVO º former O V PP  (PP means prepositional phrase: what was the subject is now within a PP (Aby@ + the NP that used to be the subject).  Examples:

 

Mary drove the car. º  The car was driven by Mary

Anyone can eat this cake.   º  This cake can be eaten by anyone.

Mary impresses John.  º  John is impressed by Mary.

 

Notice that the tense has not been changed.  If it was past, it stays past: drove º was driven).  If it was present, it stays present: impresses º is impressed).  Now the auxiliary carries the tense.  (A participle--like driven or impressed--has no tense by itself, even though it is often formed with -ed and looks identical to the past tense.)


 

Exercise I:  Make the following sentences passive.  (They are all SVO sentences; they have to be, or they couldn't be made passive.)

 

1.  The boy loves the horse.

2.  Everyone in the room hated that awful salad.

3.  Those people surrounded the house.

4.  Izaak Perlman will perform that concerto tomorrow.

5.  A two-ounce bird can intimidate my ten-pound cat.

 

Exercise II:  Make up 6 SVO sentences and turn them into passives.  (Make sure that they are SVO or you won't be able to do this because it's the object that becomes the subject of the new sentence.)

 

1.

 

2.

 

3.

 

4.

 

5.

 

6.

 

 

Exercise III:  Now you're going to go in the opposite direction.  Here are some passive sentences.  Transform them so that they are active (that means change them back to normal SVO order).  Make sure you preserve the tense‑-present if present, past if past, etc.  Here is an example:  My peanut butter sandwich was taken by a man in blue tights with a big red S on his chest. º A man in blue tights with a big red S on his chest took my peanut butter sandwich.

 

1.  All kinds of freedom in design are offered by foam plastics.

2.  More insulation is achieved by 2 inches of foam than by 6 inches of traditional insulation.

3.  The ground was covered with dead leaves.

4.  The building was demolished by a team of experts.

5.  The note will be written by Helen, the one most closely concerned.

6.  Eggshells were tossed into the basket by Egbert.

7.  The groomple was gomped by a nelious furlet.

 

Exercise IV: Look back at the sentences in Ex. I and your answers and figure out the rule for passive transformation.  (Hint: The first three verbs have no auxiliaries and the second two do; so formulate two rules, one for each set, using "if."  "If the verb has no auxiliary, . . .[etc.])